The Osceola times., 1887-05-14
ABOUT ENSlLAGE.
The Processes Through which Corn Passes
After Being Placed In the silo.


The first requisite IN preparing ensil-
age is the construction Of a proper silo.
While great latitude both as TO material
and form can be allowed, yet exper-
ience has shown that silo should be
built of such a size that, with the ma
chinery at command for filling, II can
be filled so rapidly that the process of
fermentation, or decay, will not pro-
ceed far enough to injure the feeding
quality of the product. The best feed
ing for cattle under any circumstances
is green grass or Indian corn when the
stalk has attained its fullest develop-
ment, both in size and maturity. but
before the seed has commenced to ripen
and the stalk has become dry and hard.
But green grass in June, or Indian corn
when in full flower, can only be obtained
at certain seasons, and in preserving
ensilage, it is well to bear in mind that
the more nearly 1t can be preserved rs
1t was when it was first cut, the better
the feeding quality will lie.
The first process the corn undergoes
when it is cut and put into the silo is
fermentation. Scientists disagree as
to whether fermentation is produced
from little plant they call the yeast
cell. or from little animal they call
bacteria. Without attempting to de-
eide when the learned men disagree,
we know from practical experience
that the first product of these yeast
cells, or bacteria. Is heat and carbonic
acid gas, The latter is thrown off in
large quantities, and is instantly fatal
to this kind Of life. Take an animal of
any kind, enclose it in tight cell, and
In the course of few hours the oxygen
in the air is all absorbed, carbonic acid
gas takes its place and the animal dies.
So, supposing your silo to be perfectly
air-tight, or rather gas-tight, around
the sides and at the bottom; the mo-
ment the corn is placed in the
silo, the Preventative germs start
into life and begin to evolve carbonic
acid gas. This being heavier than
air, sinks at once TO the bottom,
and forms as it were a pool, which,
rising higher as If it were water, drives
out the air that was in the cells of the
plant and the interstices of the ensil-
age until the top is reached. The mo-
ment the Preventative germs are inn
mersed in bath of carbonic acid gas,
they are removed and the fermentation
at once stops. The product is as it
were Theoretically sealed, all further
decay is arrested, and the product re-
mains in statu quo. The life of these
germs is supported, as is all life upon
Che oxygen, that is contained in the air
which is brought into the silo, either in
the ensilage itself, or in the interstices
between. The longer their supply of
oxygen lasts, the longer is their life,
and it will be seen, therefore, that the
more rapidly the silo is filled and the
more quickly and efiectually the air
is pressed out of the silo, the less oxygen
there will be for the germs to live upon
and the more quickly they
will accomplish their own
death by drowning in carbonic
acid gas. What is known as willing,
or the destruction of the firm texture
of the fiber and the cells of the plant,
materially aids the weights which
should be placed upon the ensilage to
drive out the air. Supposing, however,
that the ensilage is placed slowly with
in the silos and that no weights are
supplied. The quantity of air and OK
gen is sufficient, therefore, to allow
for rapid and enormous development
of the Preventative germs. In living
they generate heat, and this heat in
the course of few days will rise so
rapidly that the heat itself will destroy
them. This, by experiment, has been
ascertained to be about 1872 degrees
Fahrenheit; but before this heat is at
tanned, certain acids and products for
eign to that contained in the ensilage
in its green state are produced. Among
these are alcohol, acetic and Tactic
acid, and still later, butyric acid, most
offensive and unwholesome produc-
ton. 1t is the formation of these chem
icaJ products, the direct result of de-
cay and putrefaction, which gives to en-
silage that strong. unwholesome smell,
to which nearly, if not all, the failures
can be directly attributable. If the en-
silage has been subjected to careful
manipulation, so that just the degree
of heat has been obtained throughout
the entire mass necessary to kill the
Preventative germs, but before the
process of decay has gone so far as to
produce more noxious chemical pro-
duct, what is termed sweet ensilage
is got. This sweet ensilage has a
strong, pleasant odor, the starch has
been simply converted into glucose, or
grape sugar, and the feeding value has
not been seriously impaired. This
method of curing ensilage has been
warmly advocated by many we'll
known chemists and others. Where,
however, air insufficient to produce the
necessary degree of heat to kill the
germ has been left in the silo and their
term of life has been heightened be-
yond what it ought to be, certain acids
have been formed in large quantities,
giving a decidedly sour smell to the
product, but not particularly injurious